Jumpstart
by Triscribe
Summary: A spin-off to my Tano and Twins story, this is the tale of a seven year old orphan Ezra Bridger found by Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus, and how, despite differences in the order of appearance, the Ghost crew still wind up becoming a family unit. Dysfunctional, but still family.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This story ties in with Tano and Twins, though with the information I'm about to give you, you shouldn't need to go read it first (I would ask, however, that you do go read it at Some Point!)._

 _Basically, Caleb Dume ran into Ahsoka Tano a few years after Order 66. Already absorbed with raising the Skywalker twins, she brings him to Obi-wan Kenobi, who completes Caleb's training and knights him. Taking the name Kanan Jarrus, the young Jedi sets out to help with growing resistance efforts against the Empire, something that takes him to various planets - which is how he winds up as the partner of Hera Syndulla and joins her aboard the woman's ship. In the couple of years since then, they've travelled widely, running missions for the rapidly expanding rebellion as well as rescuing Force sensitive younglings to take to Master Yoda's secret Enclave on Dagobah._

 _That's the pertinent information. Now, our story begins properly..._

Chapter 1

Stepping out of the _Ghost_ and into Lothal's fresh air, Kanan took a deep, bracing breath, tapping fully into the Force as he did so. Master Kenobi had been correct in assuring him there were no Sith-trained Inquisitors present on the Outer Rim world, or at least none in the capital city. That was always subject to change, though - the Emperor had slowly been growing more erratic in assigning tasks to his various Force sensitive agents, which included Hands, Inquisitors and Vader himself.

"Anything wrong, love?" Hera asked idly as she joined him on the ramp.

"Not at the moment," Kanan answered back softly, eyes scanning the city skyline. He was just about to dim his openness to the Force when a sudden spark of something stood out to him.

"Hera?"

"Mm?"

"Think you can handle the information pick-up yourself? I just got a lead on another matter..." Catching on to her friend's drift, the twi'lek woman nodded.

"Chopper!" She called back through the ship. "Mind the ship for us, and get the Guest room ready!"

There was a specific cabin aboard the _Ghost_ that was always reserved for any Force sensitive younglings Kanan was tasked with delivering to Master Yoda on Dagobah, and by mentioning it Hera had just alerted their temperamental astromech to the fact that there would likely be another one incoming.

Exchanging brief smiles, the two Rebels parted company outside the spaceport: Hera to retrieve some information needed by the Alliance on recent Imperial movements through the Outer Rim, and Kanan to investigate the source of the Force flare he'd felt earlier.

He soon found it, in the form of a small child attempting to pick his pocket.

-J-

"Do you need anything else, Ezra?" When the dark-haired boy shook his head, Hera smiled and gave him a gentle squeeze to the shoulder. Stick thin and garbed in ramshackle clothing swiftly turning into rags, Ezra Bridger was filthy, in need of a good cleaning. After making sure he knew how to work the 'fresher aboard the _Ghost,_ Hera left him to it, returning to where she'd last seen Kanan in the med bay.

"He _bit_ me, the little slagger," her friend was complaining. Even as he applied bacta to the various wounds along his arms, though, the Jedi Knight's tone of irritation was none-too-lightly colored by amused admiration.

"I'll admit, Jarrus, I'm surprised a kid that small gave you so much trouble." Hera couldn't help but smirk at the scratches and bite-marks, small but numerous from where Ezra tried to escape the man's grip before accepting that he wasn't in danger.

"Yeah, well, I still got him in the end, didn't I?" Abruptly, Kanan's expression of humor darkened into something else. "Kid would have been in a lot more trouble if I were anyone else, though."

Hera frowned at the concern her partner was showing. "You got to him first, love. And now he'll get care and training on Dagobah, with the others." That was when she saw it - the faint flicker of apprehension, something that indicated Kanan didn't necessarily want to simply deliver this child like they had before. "Love...?"

Kanan abruptly shook his head, putting the medical supplies away again, and left without another word. Hera stared after him, confused, but willing to respect that the Jedi clearly needed to be alone to think something over. Instead of pestering her friend, the woman returned to looking after their new passenger. Ezra had finished cleaning up in record time, even expertly dressing himself in the small orange jumpsuit Hera had left for him.

Obviously, the boy hadn't always been on the streets, causing her to wonder what had happened to force him to be there. As she settled the seven year old into the large bunk in the Guest room, she asked if he had any friends or family he wanted to say goodbye to.

Ezra promptly started to sniffle, startling Hera into drawing him into a tight embrace. Haltingly, the boy told her of his parents, and how they'd disappeared. It took a long time for Hera to settle him down again, and even after Ezra dropped off into sleep, she continued to hold him as she sat on the bunk. Kanan wandered in after a while, watching her and the boy carefully.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a subdued tone, kneeling beside her.

"Not really," Hera murmured back, stroking a bare hand through Ezra's dark locks.

"You're thinking about orphans again, aren't you." It didn't have to be a question. Kanan had known her long enough to become perfectly aware of how Hera reacted around children bereft of their families - either she gave them love and attention herself, or found someone else capable of sharing it.

And Hera knew, when Kanan cautiously reached out his own hand to place it on Ezra's tearstained cheek, expression soft, that he'd already become attached himself.

-J-

Keeping his hands pressed to the window, Ezra watched with awe as Lothal shrank from view - or, more correctly, as the _Ghost_ lifted up and away into space.

"Wow..." he whispered. The kid's eyes got even wider when they made the jump to hyperspace, stars and darkness replaced with streams of blazing light.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Kanan chuckled from behind him. Ezra nodded rapidly as he clambered back down to the floor from his perch. "So, I need to ask you something, kid."

Silently, the boy blinked at him.

"I know I said yesterday, after you calmed down, that we'd take you to a safe place, where you could learn to use the Force." Brows furrowed, Ezra continued to watch the man closely, wondering why he started to look so nervous. "I was wondering, if, instead of going somewhere new, you might like to stay here instead. On the _Ghost._ With me and Hera. You'll still need to meet the other Jedi at some point, but I could be the one to handle your training, and well, while it might not be as safe, I can promise we'll do our best to take care of you." Kanan stopped there, looking anxiously at his still silent audience. "So, what would you prefer."

That was when Ezra smiled. He took a couple steps forward, and hugged Kanan around the waist. "Here. I want to stay here."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"No. Nuh-uh, you two _so_ did not take on an entire Stormtrooper patrol." Ezra glared at his friends, daring them to argue the point.

"Sure we did," Leia grinned back. "Luke dashed in and got their attention, then I dragged him out of it and we took off through the streets. That counts as taking them on."

As Ezra continued to look skeptical, the other Skywalker twin coughed, and elaborated further. "We got cornered by a bunch of shipping crates, and then Numa showed up, and she was the one who actually took _down_ the patrol before taking us back to the Ryloth Resistance."

Leia frowned at her brother as Ezra laughed. It still took him by surprise sometimes with how different the siblings were from one another, but their interactions were always entertaining to watch, to be sure.

"Dare I ask what's going on in here?" An adult voice asked from the doorway. All three nine year olds twisted around to see Ahsoka entering the rec room.

"Just story swapping, Aunt 'Soka." Luke smiled up at her. "Leia's been stretching the truth again."

"I have not!"

"It's okay, I know better than to believe her one hundred percent." The boys exchanged conspiratorial smirks as the female Skywalker pouted. Ahsoka chuckled at all of them.

"Well, in case you all want to know, we're at the rendezvous point, and the _Ghost_ should be here soon enough." Instantly, Ezra perked up, looking forward to seeing Kanan and Hera again. Chopper, too, though he was a lot more reluctant to admit it.

The three younglings had just spent two days on Dagobah, under-going testing and training from Master Yoda, who wanted to check on their progress. In the meantime, the crew of the _Ghost_ had gone on an emergency supply run for one of the rebel bases, promising to be back by the time Ahsoka retrieved the younglings.

Sure enough, they soon arrived out of hyperspace, coming around to connect to the smaller, dinkier ship. But it wasn't just the two rebels and their droid who were aboard...

-J-

Nervous, and irritated about it, Zeb shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back. He'd agreed to get aboard the _Ghost,_ had even accepted a temporary position with the crew, and in the day and a half spent with them was yet to feel unwelcome or unaccepted.

But now they'd arrived at a little spot in the middle of nowhere, to pick up someone that the others had so far only referred to as Spectre Four. And Zeb was nervous.

It clearly showed how much Hera and Kanan cared about this other crew member, so if it turned out to be someone who didn't like the Lasat, then Zeb had no doubts he'd need to look for work elsewhere. So as they got closer and closer to the point that the airlock doors would open and reveal whoever the mysterious Spectre Four was, he couldn't help but get more and more worried.

"Alright, you ready to meet the kid?" Kanan's tone was amused, and Zeb figured he could sense the growing nervousness. The Lasat didn't have time to puzzle over the use of the word 'kid' before the doors were opening.

"KANAN!" A small form, orange and grey topped by brown and blue, blurred into the _Ghost_ colliding with the Jedi before Zeb had a chance to get a good look. What he did see, and hear, was more than enough to identify the fourth crewmember as a child, and that made him even more anxious.

What better way to be kicked off the ship, after all, than by inadvertently scaring the youngest person aboard? Especially if that person was the charge of the resident Jedi.

"Was he any trouble?" The man was asking, looking towards another figure in the doorway.

"Nah, no trouble at all. If anything, he kept the twins from getting into more arguments than usual." It was a Togruta woman, smiling at the sight of the humans' reunion, before her attention turned towards Zeb. "And this is?"

"Garazeb Orrelios, I'd like you to meet my fellow in-hiding Jedi, Ahsoka Tano." The Lasat nodded respectfully. "And this, if he'd care to pick his head up, is my student Ezra Bridger."

The youngling finally pulled back from his hug with Kanan, and blinked when he registered how tall Zeb was. "Whoa... Hi!"

"Erm, hi."

"You're even bigger than a wookie!"

Perplexed, Zeb's ears flopped as he stared down at the utterly un-afraid boy. "Uh... Some of 'em, anyway."

"Cool! What species are you? Are you part of the Alliance? Are you staying on the ship long? Have you got your own cabin? Or do you need to share? Have you tried space waffles yet?" It was all Zeb could do not to be bowled clear over by the onslaught of questions, while Kanan and Ahsoka looked on with clear amusement. "Do you want to meet Luke and Leia?"

-J-

After a very query-filled dinner that evening, Hera and Kanan forced themselves to wait until Ezra left the room with their newcomer before breaking down into deep, belly-shaking laughter.

"He spent," the Jedi finally gasped out, "the entire trip over here, worried about, whether he'd be accepted - and I, had to try my hardest, not to warn him, about, what was _really_ going to happen!"

"That's our Ezra." Hera's chuckles eventually petered out as well, and then the two adults simply leaned against one another.

"It'll be good, though, to have another adult around to help keep an eye on the kid."

"Adult?" The twi'lek arched an eyebrow at her partner. "Kanan, I hate to say it, but by this time tomorrow our boy's going to have that Lasat playing Tag and Hide and Seek and Force knows what else with him. We'll be lucky if Zeb doesn't do a complete reversal into childhood himself!"

"...I hadn't thought of that."

-J-

"Chopper!" Grumbling, the astromech spun about to face Ezra as the boy hurried towards him down the hall. "Can you help me get into the vent system? I need to hide from Zeb where he'll never find me!"

Instantly, Chopper's irritation turned to glee, and he beeped out an agreement. If there was one thing the droid enjoyed more than messing with the smallest crewmember, it was irritating the largest. Zeb had proven himself to have quite the short fuse, which Chopper loved to poke at. Ezra might have just been trying to win his game, but the astromech would take any opportunity to pull a prank.

Rolling up beneath the nearest vent cover, he held still to give Ezra a steady perch to climb up on. Within seconds, the boy had undone the clasps on the cover, and used a little bit of the Force to help propel himself off of Chopper and into the opening.

"Oi!" Unfortunately, Zeb had just come around the corner and spotted them. Deciding that a retreat was in order, Chopper hurried away down the hall, cackling as he listened to the Lasat's frustrated bellows as he attempted to pull Ezra back out of the vent (attempted being the key word). It was, he thought to himself, just another good day aboard the _Ghost._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Alright, now you're certain you've got the plan straight?"

Ezra sighed, but went through his instructions one more time, just to put his anxious mentor at ease. "I climb up here to the roof, make my way two buildings east and three more north, and wait in the shadows underneath the huge billboard. Within the next half hour, a convoy is going to drive past. I'm to throw my bombs at the first, third, and seventh vehicles, leaving the others alone. Then I retreat back to here and wait for Zeb to come pick me up on the speeder."

Nodding, Kanan clapped him on the shoulder, then paused. "...You sure you don't want to wait this one out on the _Ghost_ with Chopper?"

"Ka- _nan!"_

"Fine, alright, get going then."

Eager to get away from the man, Ezra hurried to start climbing the fire escape. Getting to his assigned position was a breeze, especially with the Force helping to propel his movements. In no time at all, the eleven year old was ready and waiting.

The next part of his assignment was a breeze, too. None of the troopers assigned to protect the convoy were looking up at a steep enough angle to see him, and even if they were, Ezra was well hidden by the shadows of the massive electronic sign. He used the Force again, this time to maneuver several small, explosive devices into seams of the armor of the military vehicles. They were timed to go off in two minutes, after which there would be more than enough chaos for Zeb, Kanan and Hera to slip in and gather up crates of the various alloys and precious metals the Imperials were transporting.

It wasn't until Ezra was heading back to his starting point that he encountered trouble - namely, in the form of the Force screaming a warning at him, but not soon enough for the boy to dodge a blow to the back of his head.

The last thing he saw before everything faded to black were a pair of brightly painted combat boots approaching his prone form.

-J-

"What do you mean, he wasn't there?" Kanan growled into the comlink.

 _*Just that!*_ Zeb hollered back, fear coming out as anger. _*I got to the right spot, waited a good five minutes, but the kid never showed! I had to take off before the bucketheads caught up with me!*_

"Blast it all, Ezra, where are you?" The Jedi was the first one back to where they'd hidden the _Ghost_ on the outskirts of town, and immediately called his crewmates to check on everyone. Hera was almost there with her stolen crates, Zeb a bit further out but incoming fast. Chopper had the engines running and ready for take-off as soon as everyone arrived.

Their mission had been going without a hitch, until Ezra missed his rendezvous.

Kanan's imagination tried to take him to unsavory places with the various possibilities, but instead of allowing that, he took a deep breath, and opened himself fully to the Force.

Life was blazing all around through the city, some peacefully, others more chaotic, especially the closer one got to the site of their recent attack on the Imperials. Carefully, though, Kanan sought out one specific signature, one he'd been raising and safeguarding for over four years by that point.

Just as Hera arrived, he found the youngling - unconscious, but still alive and in good health, only a few blocks away from where he'd been supposed to wait for Zeb.

"I've got a fix on Ezra's position," Kanan informed his anxious partner. "As soon as Zeb gets here, both of you take off. Circle back for us in an hour with the _Phantom._ " Hera's nod was all he needed to take off back through the city, intent on finding the lost youngling.

-J-

Sabine had to reluctantly admit, knocking out and kidnapping a kid who couldn't have been more than ten or eleven standard years old wasn't one of her better ideas. But after watching the boy on a stakeout, followed by seeing him pull a Force trick to levitate those bombs onto the Imperial craft, the fourteen year old was intrigued. She'd never seen a real Jedi before, and where there was one as young as this, there had to be an elder one, a teacher, close by.

So, for some reason still indefinable to herself, Sabine threw a piece of brick at the kid's head. In all honesty, she'd been expecting him to dodge it, and was ready with both her guns to fire a stunner shot in whatever direction he jumped. But instead, the brick hit the boy right where she aimed, and he dropped like a sack of yogun fruit.

Then came the tricky task of carrying him back to her current hideout. While avoiding the sudden swarms of Stormtroopers, no less.

Distantly, Sabine was aware that she'd be perfectly within her rights to hand the kid over to the Imps as a Jedi traitor, maybe even earn something of a reward out of it. But despite her new profession as a bounty hunter, the girl was reluctant to follow through on such a thought.

Once hidden in her one room apartment, she dropped the kid onto the lone cot and promptly checked him for weapons. Sabine found another couple bombs, a small blaster, some sort of energy slingshot, and in both his boots a vibro knife. From the decent quality of the stuff, it was apparent that the boy was either a top-notch thief, had connections with an actual weapons dealer, or else was living with someone who really wanted to make sure he stayed alive.

When her front door was kicked in by an extremely irate looking man, Sabine decided it was probably that final option.

She was forced to back away from the kid in order to avoid blaster fire, which was probably the idea. As soon as there was enough room for it, the man jumped forward to place himself between her weaponry and the cot, and ignited a blue lightsaber. Stunned that she'd actually been right in her guesswork, Sabine made a show of holstering her blasters and holding up both empty palms.

"Who are you?" The man demanded, never lowering his saber. "And why did you take the boy?"

"Easy, my name's Sabine Wren." Carefully, oh so carefully, she removed her helmet so that the guy could see her honest expression. "As for why... I wanted to meet a real Jedi."

Opposite her, an eyebrow went up. "So to fulfill that, you saw fit to kidnap my student, rather than simply following him and introducing yourself properly?"

A sheepish grin found its way onto Sabine's face. "Well..."

The man rolled his eyes, and then powered down the lightsaber, clipping it back to his belt. Then, he deliberately turned his back on her, and started to check on the still unconscious kid. Suddenly nervous, Sabine fidgeted in place, not sure whether she should try to run or not.

"Nasty bump on his head," the Jedi murmured all of a sudden. "You do this?"

"Yeah. Well, not intentionally. I mean, I threw the brick at him, but I thought he'd dodge it and step into my stunner fire." She clamped down on her mouth to keep from rambling on. The man sighed and finally turned to look at her.

"Well, Sabine Wren, I'll be honest and say you've put me in a bit of a quandary. You know what we are, which means that for safety concerns I ought to kill you." She paled at that, hands inching towards her blasters again. "However, you seem like a nice kid. I _could_ let you go, but that runs the risk you might turn around and sell us out, either tonight or at a later point in time. And then there's the third option, that you come with us back to our ship, and try to prove that you aren't the sort of person who'll betray us at the drop of a hat."

Biting her lip, Sabine glanced around the dingy apartment, swiftly weighing the pros and cons of the Jedi's proposed options.

"Guess I'd better get packing, then."

-J-

"I don't like this," Zeb muttered mutinously to Chopper. The two of them had just watched as their three crewmates plus one exited the _Phantom_ , no one acting like anything was out of the ordinary. Kanan promptly carried the still groggy Ezra to the med bay, mentioning something about checking for a concussion, while Hera led the newcomer towards the sleeping quarters.

Chopper beeped out something that sounded like an agreement, which cheered Zeb somewhat - at least he wasn't the only one unhappy with the situation.

A stranger hurt and kidnapped their youngest member, the one Kanan cared for like his own son, and rather than take her down the Jedi offered her a place aboard their ship? None of this smelled right to the Lasat.

When he confronted Kanan about it a few minutes later outside the med bay, the man gave him a sharp smile in return.

"She's wearing Mando armor, Zeb. And from what I saw in that apartment, she was well on her way to turning into a bounty hunter. We've had enough trouble in the past from Jedi-hating Mandalorians, so when I saw an opportunity to prevent another one coming into play, I took it. Besides," he added, starting to walk away. "Sabine's barely more than a youngling herself, and a curious one at that."

Zeb still wasn't happy about it. He was even less pleased when it became apparent Hera was going to make him share a room with Ezra so that Sabine could have her own cabin and there would still be an extra one for visitors. In fact, by the time he attempted to confront the newcomer, she'd already adjusted to the new space and begun to unpack.

Which meant she had some paint bombs close to hand, and wasn't afraid to use them.

-J-

"I don't think Sabine and Zeb are getting off to a good start," Hera mentioned the next day at breakfast. They'd all witnessed the Lasat's furious march to the 'fresher, pink instead of purple, and heard his grumblings late into the night.

"They'll get over it." Kanan assured her, confident in that statement. There was something in the Force, something that promised everything was as it should be.

And Kanan would always trust in the Force.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"No."

"But the twins have already got theirs!"

"I said no, Ezra."

"Why not? We'll be able to practice better if I have a lightsaber too, and it'll be better for missions, and-"

"And will serve to make you even more of a target should anyone see you using it." Kanan glared at his thirteen year old Padawan, who returned the look with one of his own. Zeb and Sabine watched the argument from across the room, their gazes switching from one human to the other with a sort of morbid fascination. Ezra and Kanan didn't argue often, which made this display all the more spectacular.

"I'm a target already!"

"A young Rebel, with an unknown amount of training in the Force, is not half as dangerous as a lightsaber-wielding, fully-fledged Jedi Padawan-"

"Shouldn't we _want_ me to become more dangerous to the Empire?"

"Not if it means there are more than bounty hunters after you!"

"There are already worse people than hunters after _you,_ and by extension the rest of us! Having a lightsaber would make me better able to defend myself!"

" _What_ is going _on_ in here?!" Hera hurried through the door, coming to stand between the two with a concerned expression.

"Ezra isn't following my orders-"

"Kanan won't let me be a real Jedi!"

"Alright, al-RIGHT! Both you just calm down, and start from the beginning."

The two ran through their respective trains of logic again, slower and one at a time. After listening intently, Hera sighed.

"Ezra, while I agree that you need a lightsaber at some point, I'd feel a lot better if it waited until you were a little older." The boy's face fell, and while Kanan was glad to win the argument, he also regretted the need to cause Ezra such disappointment.

That regret deepened when the kid locked himself away in his room for the rest of the day.

And then it turned into intense frustration the next morning, when it was discovered that Ezra and Chopper had disappeared, along with the _Phantom._

-J-

The stupid astromech wasn't cooperating.

"Chopper, I _gave_ you the coordinates, _why_ aren't we heading to Illum?!"

Rattled chortles answered him back.

"Dagobah? No, I don't need to go to Dagobah! Chopper!" Sadly, Ezra was unable to wrest control of the small ship back from the droid, and soon enough they emerged from hyperspace over the planet of swamps.

The comm system crackled to life. _*This is the Enclave, calling small transport_ Phantom. _Answer,_ Phantom. _*_

"This is _Phantom,_ requesting landing permission at the Enclave."

 _*Permission granted, though I can't help but ask why...*_

"I'm, uh, planning a trip to Illum. For my kyber crystal. Astromech unit brought us here first."

 _*...Is this a Master-approved trip to Illum?*_

"Not, technically." Ezra rubbed at the back of his head.

 _*...Hover above the landing site, and a few of us will join you.*_

"Understood, Enclave. _Phantom_ out."

A few minutes later, Ezra didn't bother to extend the landing gear as he descended towards the hidden clearing, just lowered the ship's ramp. When he was about ten feet from the ground, there were three _thumps_ that heralded the arrival of his fellow students.

"What's the matter, Bridger, Master Jarrus didn't want you to get frostbitten?"

"Oh, stuff it, Jade," Ezra muttered back as the girl came up to stand beside him. Mara Jade merely grinned, flicking back her long braid of red hair. Behind her, the Sullustan Gieg Gung chuckled while Diot Viski, a Nautolan, merely sighed with exasperation. "Now strap in, guys, we've got a hyperspace jump to make."

-J-

Yoda knew whenever his students were up to something. He'd become so in-tune with the Force, that for him _not_ to be aware of when the young Jedi on Dagobah were planning mischief, would be a sign of something terrible. So, on the occasions that pranks were pulled, or secret messages sent to family in the dead of night, Yoda always had advance warning.

Therefore, on the occasion that three younglings boarded a ship with one of their nomadic compatriots, Yoda knew. And decided that punishment, for his charges at least, would lie in not being able to construct lightsabers around their crystals until every other youngling in their age group had performed the same rite of passage themselves.

As for the headstrong Bridger boy, well, Knight Jarrus was undoubtedly already planning a suitable punishment for his own padawan learner - one that might just be worse than anything Yoda could think up.

-J-

"Ezra, how do you know where we're going?"

"Bit late for that question, isn't it Di?"

"Just answer me." The nautolan girl glared at him.

"It's all thanks to the Skywalker twins - after their trip last year, they told me all about the new caves that Master Tano found for them, the challenges they had, everything. And when I called them last night, they gave me the exact coordinates, which we are arriving at... Now." As he spoke, the boy guided the small ship into a carefully hidden crevice, lowering them out of the howling, biting wind. Gieg handed him his own parka to don, and then Ezra led them out of the _Phantom_ and towards the first cave.

A large circle had been carved out in the center of the protected space, directly in front of the opening to the rest of the ice tunnels.

"Do we all just go in at once, or do we take turns?" Mara asked quietly.

"Well... There's supposed to an older Knight or Master as a guide, who waits out here. But since we're doing this on our own, I think it's probably a good idea if we went in as pairs, with the other two outside just in case."

Diot quirked her lips into a lopsided smile. "What do you know, the space mouse can think for himself after all."

Chuckling, Gieg patted his friend on the shoulder and spoke. His words had Mara nodding decisively.

"I agree, it should be ladies first. Ready, Diot?" The other female nodded, and then they both walked into the dark. Ezra blinked, then scowled. He'd wanted to be one of the first ones in. Looking at his face, Gieg laughed louder, and pointed out that waiting for your own turn wasn't nearly so boring as waiting for others once you were done. Reluctantly, Ezra had to nod in agreement.

The two boys wound up meditating together, allowing themselves to merge with the Force that veritably sang throughout the frigid world. Small, brief visions descended on them, of past Jedi coming on the Gathering trips. A few in particular stood out to Ezra - moments when he saw a Togruta he'd have sworn was Ahsoka Tano, and of a boy with short brown hair and the same bright green eyes as Kanan. There was even one startling instant when a face very much like Master Yoda's grinned at him, only it had far fewer wrinkles and a great many more tufts of hair.

Diot came back out after a while, staring thoughtfully at the crystal cupped in her hand. Both Ezra and Gieg's eyes widened as they took in the pale, golden color.

"Gonna become a Sentinel, Viski?"

"Possibly," she murmured, finally lifting her gaze to look at the human boy. "I apologize for my earlier rudeness, Ezra. It was not intended as such - merely disguising my own unease."

Blinking in surprise, he stammered out a thank you, and assured her it was fine. Diot became silent after that, joining Gieg in meditation. Ezra, on the other hand, found himself standing closer to the cave entrance, tapping one foot as he waited for the other girl to reappear.

Almost an hour after going in, Mara walked back out with a steady tread. Her face, though, was paler than the snow.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Nervous, Ezra placed a hand on her shoulder. "Did... didn't you find-?"

Her right hand opened, and Mara displayed a pristine, purple kyber crystal. "I have _never,_ " the girl said slowly, "been more grateful to Master Tano." And with that, she sat within the circle as well, not saying another word. The boys sent worried looks to Diot, who pursed her lips and nodded back with reassurance.

Then it was their turn to enter the cave.

It took a few minutes of walking, but they found an intersection soon enough and knew they had to part ways. "Good luck Gieg." The Sullustan returned his sentiment, before he and Ezra went down opposite tunnels.

The air grew even colder, biting through his parka. Even the Force seemed to grow still - tense and waiting. Ezra continued down his chosen path for a long while, trying to ignore the walls steadily growing closer. He could feel his heart rate picking up, and automatically started to take faster steps. Soon, he was running outright, hurtling past bizarre formations and sinister shadows, gasping for each breath.

A crack in the floor tripped him up.

It took him by such surprise, the boy wasn't able to react in time and prevent himself from face-planting on the ice. Which, of course, began to crack all around him.

"Oh, no..." His mutter morphed into a holler as Ezra fell, echoing around the space until it was a cacophony. There was the brief thought that they'd probably be able to hear him all the way back on the _Ghost,_ and then he hit the ground.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Hera's gaze snapped to Kanan when he gasped, noting that the Jedi's own eyes were distant.

"Ezra," was all he said, helplessly. Gritting her teeth, Hera glared at the nav controls, silently beseeching her ship to hurry up and get to the _Phantom's_ location, so that they could retrieve the boy she'd contributed to raising over the last six years.

-J-

"Ow." It was struggle to force himself upright after the abrupt landing, something that Ezra was not happy about in the slightest. His right ankle was even less happy, sending loud messages of pain with every step.

Around him was a massive cavern, one that stretched away in all directions with no sign of which way to go. Thoroughly afraid by this point of being left behind by his friends, of being forgotten by his family aboard the _Ghost,_ Ezra attempted to go in a straight line, to find the end of the huge space and a way out. He didn't care about finding a crystal at that point, only with not being alone in the dark any longer.

Which, he eventually realized, was the problem.

Coming to a stop, the boy took several deep breaths, forcing his pulse to stop pounding. Then he called on the Force.

Almost as if it had been waiting for him, a shimmer of blue light appeared in the distance to his left, coaxing the youngling onward. He stumbled in that direction, and was surprised to almost instantly come to a wall, with a small opening directly before him. The tunnel beyond had a gentle slope to it, something manageable for Ezra's injured ankle. He continued to follow it, growing more tired but hanging on to the faith that he was doing the right thing.

It was a wonderful feeling when he finally emerged back at the original intersection, with a bright blue kyber crystal embedded in the wall, just waiting for him.

-J-

Kanan frowned as he stepped out of the ship, the rest of the crew right behind him. They'd found the _Phantom,_ but there were more than just Ezra's footprints leading away from it and into the cave entrance.

"I need you all to wait here." Hera and the others instantly tried to protest, but grew quiet when Kanan sent them his 'this is Jedi business' look. When he could see their resigned acceptance, the man hurried onward.

Inside the cave, he immediately focused on the three younglings present, recognizing them as Master Yoda's students. But, as soon as it was apparent all of them were unharmed, he looked instead to the smaller, darker opening on the opposite side of the space.

No one needed to say Ezra was still in there.

Sighing, Kanan moved to crouch beside the nervous younglings. "Tell me what you encountered."

The nautolan girl, whom he remembered bringing to Dagobah as a near-silent toddler, held up her golden crystal. "I had to climb several ledges to retrieve this. As I got higher, I could hear a voice belittling my efforts, urging me to let go and give up, questioning whether I knew what I was doing, if I thought I would actually survive. It was on the final ledge that I realized that the voice was mine, distorted by scorn and bitterness." She paused, closing her eyes for a moment before continuing. "I had to make peace with my own self-esteem before reaching the top."

Kanan nodded, accepting her explanation and interpretation of the cave's test. "Disparaging others to hide your own insecurities is not a healthy path, for Jedi or anyone. I'm glad you've come to realize this, Diot Viski." She bowed to him, which he returned as a nod of the head, and then looked to the other girl.

"I had to walk through a room full of pillars," Mara Jade murmured, firmly looking only at the purple crystal held tightly in her fingers. "And every time I brushed against one, I saw myself, but, different. An agent of the Emperor. A bounty hunter. A slave. All the things I could have been, if Master Tano hadn't found me as a child; could still become, if I ever fail or lose my way. It was enough to bring me to tears... There was so much Darkness, I stopped moving for fear of seeing another possibility and breaking down."

"How did you get out?"

"When I stopped, I heard a sound. Singing. It- it sounded like my mother, at first, but then different. The Force was sending it to me, so I followed, along a path that avoided all the pillars except one at the end. When I touched it, I saw myself, a Jedi Master, singing to my children. And inside of the ice, I found my crystal."

Awed, it took a few moments for Kanan to respond. "That- that sounds like a warning and a promise all rolled into one. You're a passionate girl, Mara - but now you know what future you'd lose should you ever turn to the Dark Side."

Solemn, she bowed as well, then stepped back to allow the third youngling his turn. Gieg Gung told them of his long wait in a cavern where the walls were slowly descending from different heights. He'd had to stay put until the far one was low enough to retrieve the green crystal from the other side, then bolt back through the cave's opening before he was trapped.

"A classic test of patience," Kanan smiled, "Along with a lesson that sometimes, you really do need to hurry."

Gieg grinned, ducking his head as the girls chuckled.

"Did I miss something funny?" The instant he heard his Padawan, Kanan was up and moving. He grabbed Ezra in a tight hug, both relieved at having the thirteen year old back and worried that there wasn't a protest regarding his open display of affection.

"Are you alright?" The question came out even as he pulled back slightly, scanning the boy up and down.

"Sprained ankle, I think, but other than that I'm fine."

"Good." That particular fear assuaged, Kanan reached around and smacked Ezra upside the head.

"Ow! Kanan!"

" _That_ is for sneaking off when I deliberately told you we were going to _wait_ for this trip!" The grown Jedi then insisted on helping his Padawan hop back to the _Ghost,_ the other younglings trailing along after them. Hera, Zeb, and Sabine, along with the added Chopper, were all still waiting on the ship's ramp, and looked greatly relieved to see their missing crewmate approaching intact.

Then the twi'lek woman smacked him as well for scaring them all.

"Three-hour meditation exercises, extra chores, and no dessert for a month." Both Kanan and Hera were firm on his punishment, and Ezra sighed when he realized there was no getting out of it.

"As for you three," Kanan eyed the other young Jedi. "Master Yoda will be waiting with the consequences for your escapade."

Gieg and Mara winced, while Diot merely looked stoic about the whole thing. Privately, Ezra wondered which Master he'd prefer to be punished by.

He didn't have an answer for that, even after being stuck in the med bay for the remainder of the day with a cold-pack on his ankle. But when the boy was dozing on that cot, he sensed more than saw Kanan come in to check on him, and knew which Master he preferred to live with.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"This is bad."

"Shut up, Ezra."

"You shut it, Zeb."

"Runt, I'm warning you."

"Who're you calling runt, you overgrown furball?"

"Why I oughta-"

"Could both of you pipe down, please?" The boys fell silent at Sabine's weary question, anxious not to distress the girl any further. All three of them were trapped in a corner of what _used_ to be a Tie fighter factory - before it had been sabotaged by the Rebellion, that is. Zeb was currently holding up a fallen chunk of the duracrete ceiling, preventing the large slab from falling from its diagonal position to a horizontal one. By his feet, Ezra worked to stem the blood flow from a wound on Sabine's leg, ignoring his own cuts and scrapes for the meantime. Distantly, they could hear the sirens and shouts of approaching Imperials, drowned out by the nearer roar of the growing flames.

Then something trembled in the Force, and Ezra whipped his head up in shock.

"Kid? What's wrong?"

"There's a Sith coming."

"WHAT?" He flinched slightly at the dual shout from both his teammates, redoubling his efforts to secure a bandage on Sabine's wound.

"Okay, change in plans - you two need to run as soon as you're able, while I make some noise at the edge of the compound to attract attention-"

"It's no good, Zeb, as soon as this guy gets close enough he'll sense me just like I've sensed him. If anything, _you_ need to take Sabine and get her to the meeting point while I go in another direction."

"Ezra-"

"Too late to argue, I'm done." The fifteen year old tied off the last knot and helped his fellow human to her feet. "Both of you go. Tell the others what's up, and Kanan can track me down for a timely rescue, okay?" He offered the pair a confident grin, which neither fell for.

"Don't get yourself killed, alright kid?" Zeb said gruffly. Sabine settled for ruffling the boy's hair, before she was scooped up by the Lasat. The three of them headed for the nearest gaping hole in the wall, allowing their impromptu shelter to fall flat. A few shouts rang out from the far end of the wrecked factory, but they were easily ignored.

Once outside, Ezra split off from his friends and started running in a perpendicular direction to their route. He'd almost made it completely out of the Imperial compound when a stormtrooper noticed him and started shooting. The blaster bolts were easy to evade, though the kid did make sure to deflect at least one with his lightsaber - the incoming wielder of the Dark Side had already detected him, so Ezra figured it couldn't hurt by that point, maybe even do a bit of good if he drew more attention away from the others.

Moving rapidly through the dark city streets went much more easily for the teen than the stormtroopers chasing him, all thanks to his senses heightened by the Force. Eight years of training with Kanan had done their part to guaranteeing Ezra could evade any buckethead in the galaxy.

Just as he lost the last of his pursuers from the compound, though, the Sith showed up.

Ezra took cover in an alleyway, recovering his breath as the Dark presence got closer and closer. Then, several yards away, a red lightsaber ignited in the darkness.

"Come quietly, boy, and you won't be harmed," a sly voice said. The Sith slowly moved closer, but Ezra didn't bother to wait for him. Instead the teen leapt upward, grabbing onto a drainage pipe attached to the side of the building. He then climbed, clearing several stories in just a few moments. Once on the roof, he took off in a new direction, easily clearing the distances between buildings while keeping just ahead of the Sith on the ground.

Then, unfortunately, the boy came to the end of the city proper, arriving at the edge of the large spaceport. Unable to turn back, Ezra jumped the distance from the final building to the port's outer wall, and from there onto the top of a mid-size cruiser. He paused when it seemed as though the Sith wouldn't follow him any further, but then the light of the red saber appeared on top of the wall as well, only barely illuminating the tall, thin figure.

Ezra resumed running.

Breathing was getting harder by the time he reached the far side of the spaceport, as ships of assorted shapes were harder to traverse than flat building roofs. His pursuer was just starting to close in again, when the sound of a familiar engine cut through the night. Ezra grinned with relief as the _Ghost_ descended towards him, the hatch opening to reveal Kanan waiting for him. With a final, Force-enhanced leap, the teen caught his mentor's outstretched hand and was promptly pulled aboard. Further inside, Zeb yelled for Hera to take off, hitting the control for the ramp as he did so.

Just before it closed, both Jedi glanced down and finally got a good look at the Sith.

Black clothing cut in Imperial style seemed to blend into the darkness, but only emphasized the pale, gaunt face that was staring back up at them. Yellow eyes flashed, highlighted by striking red markings on both cheeks.

Then the ship was sealed, and Ezra leaned heavily into his mentor. "Well. That was more fun than I needed tonight."

Lips twisting into a wry smile, Kanan carefully guided his charge towards the ladder. A few hours later, after all wounds were taken care of and the youths all settled into bed, he used the ship's comm console to make a private call.

"How do you do it?" Kanan asked right off the bat, not even giving Ahsoka the chance to greet him. "Even knowing that they've been trained as much as possible, how do you manage to let the twins handle missions by themselves without going insane from worry?"

"Ah. I take it Ezra and the others had some trouble on their latest escapade?"

"One of the Inquisitors showed up, and chased Ezra halfway across the city before we were able to pick him up."

The Togruta woman arched an eye ridge at that, studying Kanan a bit more closely. "He's not hurt, is he?"

"Exhausted, and bleeding pretty heavily from some cuts he'd gotten earlier in the evening, but intact."

"In that case, you go to sleep reassuring yourself that he came out okay, and start looking towards making plans in case something like this ever happens again.

Both Jedi went quiet for a few moments, each considering the heightened efforts the Emperor had been making lately to curb rebellion in the Outer Rim, sending out all manner of agents not just to track down insurgents but also the handful of Force users leading certain efforts.

"It's not so simple, keeping him safe anymore," Kanan murmured softly.

"I know," Ahsoka sighed, agreeing. "Sometimes I miss the days I could order the twins to stay put, and know that they'd actually listen to me, or at least not be let out by Artoo. But then I consider all the occasions when I wasn't around to protect them, and Luke and Leia had to get themselves out of trouble, managing it just fine. Younglings grow up, Caleb, and we just have to do our best to make sure they know how to learn, adapt and grow."

"You make it sound so simple..."

"Well, then there's also the matter of learning ourselves _how_ to let them go do those things, and that's the harder lesson, I think."

"Indeed."

"Fortunately, you and I aren't the only ones learning. We have plenty of allies who go through the same problem."

"Yeah, but those are parents, not Jedi."

"Hm. I might have them call me 'Aunt', and you might insist on only being his Master, but don't you think when it comes to the twins and Ezra, we are for all intents and purposes their parents?"

Kanan didn't have a response for that. Ahsoka bid him good night, and signed off her side of the transmission. A little while later, after Hera left the _Ghost_ in autopilot, she came and found her partner still sitting quietly at the comm console.

"Something on your mind, love?" The twi'lek asked, getting herself a mug of tea.

"Do you think I treat Ezra too much like my own child? Not enough like a Padawan?" Kanan asked abruptly. Hera paused, staring him down, before she answered.

"I think you treat him in the exact capacity he needs," she said slowly. "Sometimes reminiscent of a Jedi master and his student, when you teach and train, and other times like a parent, when he needs comfort. And if you see anything wrong with that, I'm going to point out that with the differences between the galaxy you and I grew up in, and the one we live in now, your relationship with Ezra is exactly what you've both needed to heal and survive."

Again, Kanan was left unable to come up with a reply. Instead of attempting to discuss it further, he instead left his partner and went to the room shared by Ezra and Zeb. The Lasat was still awake, lying on his bottom bunk and reading. One look at the thoughtful Jedi, though, and he cleared out.

Approaching the bunks, Kanan reached up to brush away some of the hair that had fallen across Ezra's face. The boy didn't stir, sleeping off his exhaustion from the night's activities. In that moment, Kanan could see perfectly clearly the face of the little boy who'd attempted to pick his pocket on Lothal, biting and scratching furiously to get away when he was caught. It seemed so strange sometimes, to consider that more than eight years had passed since that day. That a small feeling in the back of Kanan's mind, telling him not to simply dump the kid on Dagobah like any other Force sensitive youngling he'd rescued, had led to the incredibly strong bond between them.

Maybe he was merely Ezra's master, maybe more than that. Regardless, Kanan would continue to fret over the boy, and pass on as much instruction as he could - the better to make sure Ezra would grow up to teach his own students one day.

 _A/N: Yes, there is more, despite my original notes only plotting out five chapters. I just couldn't leave this story be, though. There had to be more detailing some mish-mashed events from the show, so here we are._

 _To anyone who might be interested, I've got another story up and running titled 'The 'What If' and 'How About' Star Wars Collection, which is basically a dumping ground for all my AU ideas, some of which deal with Rebels, the Clone Wars, or the live action movie characters. If nothing else, I highly encourage you to go look at the Table of Contents, which has summaries for all the different plots, and see if anything catches your eye._

 _Until next time, folks!_

 _-Triscribe_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The day could be going better.

It wasn't the first time Ezra had helped his master retrieve a Force-sensitive youngling, but it _was_ the first time a couple of Inquisitors showed up right in the middle of things. Kanan tried to lead them away from the Ithorian mother and son, but when that failed it was up to Ezra to defend the pair.

Pypey kept whimpering as they ran, despite Oora trying to shush and soothe him. Ezra focused on the Force, using it to guide his charges along the quickest route to the spaceport that _didn't_ have Imperial stormtroopers along it. Unfortunately, that meant taking some back alleys and side streets while one of the Inquisitors simply jumped along the rooftops trailing them - and getting closer by the minute.

Mere yards away from the sealed spaceport entrance, Ezra suddenly had to turn and jump, his blue lightsaber deflecting a spinning red one. A slim figure dressed entirely in black, helmet and mask included, recalled the blade to her hand as she landed on the street.

"Stand down, Jedi," the Inquisitor called out, approaching his position with a swaying walk. "Give me the child and I'll let you live."

"Not gonna happen." And with that, Ezra attacked.

His initial jab was deflected, though the Inquisitor had to jump back to avoid his roundabout kick. She retaliated with a series of lightning fast strikes, which Ezra blocked or dodged as needed. He took a swipe at her helmet, which she swerved right to avoid. Ezra took that opening to shove her with the Force, throwing his opponent back several steps before she could recover and resist.

"Hm. You have more training than I expected." The Inquisitor's mask slid aside, revealing a Mirialan who couldn't have been much older than Sabine.

"Yeah, well, that's what comes from being raised and trained by a Jedi Knight for nine years," Ezra smirked, dropping into another battle-ready stance. His confidence failed, however, when the teen detected another Darksider's presence approaching rapidly from behind.

He turned just in time to see a different red saber curve through the air and cut straight through Oora.

"No!" Ezra didn't have a chance to try and leap forward to save her, as the Mirialan Inquisitor attacked again, trying to take him down while he was distracted. Rather than engage in another duel, Ezra allowed himself to be pushed back, ducking beneath a blow in order to grab a screaming Pypey from his dying mother's arms. She mumbled something he couldn't catch, and then the light went out from her eyes.

Wielding his saber with one hand, holding the infant with the other, and facing down two Inquisitors instead of one, Ezra sent a frantic call to Kanan through their bond. The older Jedi responded that he was hurrying towards them as fast as he could, but the teen knew it wouldn't be soon enough.

Then the doors behind him opened.

And the crew of pirates Ahsoka had sent to help them stepped through.

"Well, this doesn't look to be a fair fight, now does it?" Captain Katooni said as she came to a stop beside Ezra, lightsaber igniting.

"Not in the slightest," her first mate Petro agreed, taking up a mirror image on the teen's other side. "Why don't we do something about that?"

Another of their crewmates, a wookie by the name of Gungi, roared out his approval, as he, the nautolan Zatt, the Rhodian Ganoodi, and the Ithorian Byph all activated their own weapons.

The pair of Inquisitors suddenly looked a lot less sure of themselves.

-J-

When Kanan finally arrived at the spaceport side entrance, he slid to a stop with wide eyes. Ezra and the Ithorians he'd been protecting were nowhere to be seen, but from the relief flowing in from the boy along their bond he figured two of the pirate-Jedi crew had gotten them back to the ship, the _Lost Saber._

The other four were wrapping up their fight with the Inquisitors.

Zatt rose from where he'd stabbed the male Darksider, looking to where Gungi was shaking some dust from his fur. Katooni, meanwhile, was in the process of disarming the female, tossing the deactivated saber back to Petro.

"I remember you, Taril Bestuli," Kanan heard the Tholothian woman say as he approached. "You were a happy child once."

"That was before I learned happiness has no meaning!" The Inquisitor spat back, looking furious where she was pinned to a pillar. Katooni simply sighed, before taking off her head with a single lightsaber swipe.

Kanan blanched, but didn't say anything to the woman who'd been surviving as a pirate for much longer than she'd been serving as a Jedi. "How are Ezra and the others?"

"He and the baby are fine. The mother didn't make it." Katooni told him. "Byph carried her body back to our ship, and Ganoodi's starting the engines."

"Let's get out of here, then."

-J-

"Palpatine must be getting desperate if he's sending out Inquisitors to kidnap mere infants," Ahsoka murmured, standing with Kanan to one side of the room. Before them, the crewmembers of the _Lost Saber_ were regaling the older Dagobah younglings with their tales of battle, while Ezra was introducing the pair of babies rescued that day to their new family. One was Pypey, whose mother's ashes would watch over him from a shelf over the fireplace, and the other was Lora, a human girl whose grandmother had happily given her to Ahsoka, with the promise that they would be allowed visits in the future.

"I know. Normally he waits until they're old enough to talk." Kanan sighed. "Guess that means we're doing a good job of cutting into his recruitment schemes."

"Not good enough. There are still children stolen from their families and indoctrinated to serve him." Ahsoka's gaze briefly rested on Mara Jade, whom she'd saved from stormtroopers more than ten years back and probably rescued from a life of obeying Palpatine.

"We're doing what we can, Ahsoka. And every youngling we save is important."

"You should listen to him, little 'Soka." Both Togruta and human smiled as they were approached by the other grown Jedi living in Yoda's Enclave. "Each child brought here is an accomplishment, even if others are missed and lost."

"I know, Master Plo." As the crippled Kel Dor shuffled up to stand beside her, Ahsoka leaned over to give him a brief hug. "And that's why we'll keep carrying on as we have."


End file.
